Calmness: Definition, Quotes, Meditations, & More

By Nathalie Boutros, Ph.D.
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
What is calmness? Learn what calmness is and ways that you can simply and effectively achieve calmness in your life.
*This page may include affiliate links; that means we earn from qualifying purchases of products.
Most of us value calmness. A recent survey reported that an overwhelming majority of people from all around the world value calmness over excitement (Crabtree & Lai, 2021). People from Asia, Europe, Africa, the middle-east, and North and South America all overwhelmingly said that they would prefer a calm life over an exciting one. Thus, it may be human nature to want calmness. ​
But what exactly is calmness? And perhaps more importantly, what are some things that you can do to bring more calmness into your life? In this article, we’ll define what calmness is and then get right into some ways that you may be able to increase the calmness that you feel. We’ll review simple, straightforward, and research-supported ways that you can increase your own feelings of calmness.
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What Is Calmness? (A Definition)

In a recent study, researchers spoke with 103 people who had received treatment or support for depression and analyzed their responses for keywords describing feelings of calmness (Weiss et al., 2021). Notably, of the 29 words identified as being related to calmness, only five were traits or feelings that described the presence of calmness. The five words that were related to feeling calm included:
  • At ease
  • Mellow
  • Patient
  • Peaceful
  • Relaxed

The remaining 24 words were of feelings or sensations that are reduced, resolved, or removed when you feel calm. Some of these words included:
  • Aggravated
  • Aggressive
  • Anxiety
  • Edgy
  • Fearful
  • Fidgety
  • Frustrated
  • Impulsive
  • Overwhelmed
  • Panicked
  • Restless
  • Shaky
  • Tense
  • Worried

That there were nearly six times as many words identified with the absence of calmness than with the presence of calmness may mean that a sense of calmness might be easier to describe by what is missing than what is present. Calmness is the state of not feeling angry, edgy, frustrated, impulsive, overwhelmed, or any of the other words listed above.

Opposite of Calmness

The way that you feel, your overall mood, can be described as existing somewhere along a grid that is defined by two independent dimensions - arousal and pleasantness (Russell et al., 1989). Imagine a square where arousal increases from left to right. Sleepiness is represented at the far left side of the square. Arousal increases as you move to the right until you get to the very rightmost side of the square which represents hypervigilance. 

The quality of the feeling or “pleasantness” dimension is represented on the vertical of the square and increases as you go up. Unpleasant, undesirable feelings are represented at the very bottom of the square and as you go up, feelings become increasingly pleasant. Overall mood can be described according to these two independent dimensions. For example, high pleasantness coupled with high arousal describes excitement while low pleasantness coupled with low arousal describes depression. According to this model, calmness is described as high pleasantness coupled with low arousal. The opposite feelings are low pleasantness coupled with high arousal. These feelings are often described as stress, anxiety, worry, or fear.

Calmness in Nature

Experiencing nature may help you reach the low arousal pleasantness that describes calmness. Being in nature helps people recover from stress both psychologically and physiologically (Ulrich et al., 1991). Heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and subjective feelings of stress and anxiety all go down after exposure to nature. 

Happily, you don’t need to get out into untouched wilderness to get these benefits. The benefits of nature can come from interactions with cultivated nature as well as with wilderness. You may feel calmer after a walk in the wilderness or after sitting in a landscaped park or garden. Trees and shrubbery in urban spaces have calming effects as do potted plants and even representations of nature in artwork or virtual reality (Bratman et al., 2019). That the calming effects of nature can come so easily is great news! If you don’t have access to wilderness, you may be able to cultivate calmness by walking down a tree-lined street, caring for a potted plant, getting yourself a landscape painting, or watching immersive videos of nature.

Calmness Music

Listening to music can reduce both physical and psychological stress and increase calmness (de Witte et al., 2022). At a physiological level, listening to music can decrease stress hormone levels, lower heart rate, and decrease blood pressure. At a psychological level, listening to music can decrease negative emotions like worry, anxiety, nervousness, and restlessness. Lastly, at a neural level, listening to music may promote the release of calming neurochemicals including endorphins and oxytocin.

Listening to music can evoke a range of emotions, from joy to sadness (Theorell & Horowitz, 2019). The music’s tempo and volume may contribute to the specific feelings elicited by that music. For calmness, music with a slow and steady rhythm may be most effective. Specifically, music with a tempo between 60 - 90 bpm may have greater calming effects than music with lower or higher tempos. Additionally, choosing your music yourself, as opposed to having someone else pick out the music for you may lead to greater calming effects. 

Although people often think that Classical music is more calming than other types of music, research has found that people experience greater calming effects when they can choose their own music (de Witte et al., 2022). You can search Spotify, Pandora, or other music streaming services for curated playlists of music at specific tempos and genres. For example, you can search for “60 bpm pop”.

Calmness Through Drawing

Drawing, like other forms of artistic expression including coloring, sculpting, painting, and collage-making may help to reduce feelings of worry and anxiety and increase feelings of calmness (Abbing et al., 2018). Drawing and other forms of artistic expression may allow you to access and express feelings and thoughts that may be difficult to access and express verbally (Morris, 2014).

Interestingly, the act of drawing may help you feel calmer regardless of whether you draw the source of your stress or something pleasant that is unrelated to your stress (De Petrillo & Winner, 2005). You may find that you feel calmer after creating negative art because creating negative images may allow your negative emotions to be released. You may also feel calmer after creating positive art because creating pleasant images may provide some escape from negative feelings. Drawing may thus have both cathartic and distracting effects. In both cases, drawing while stressed seems to bring a sense of calmness. 

Notably, the researchers that found calming effects of creating both positive and negative art (De Petrillo & Winner, 2005) allowed people to draw anything of their choosing. Thus, you may be able to achieve calmness by drawing the source of your stress, something pleasant and distracting from your stress, or even something completely neutral. 

People instructed to copy shapes and lines didn't report any increase in mood, implicating the importance of creativity and of getting to choose what you draw. Whether you draw to express your negative emotions, to find escape in positive imagery, or just to distract yourself with neutral imagery may not matter to achieving calmness. What does seem to be important is that you draw what you want to draw. Another notable finding from this study was that the mood-improving effects of drawing were seen both in people with extensive art experience and in people without any art experience. The quality of the art had no bearing on whether the artist felt any better afterward. Even if you feel that you can’t draw, drawing may help improve your mood.

Calmness Exercises

There are a number of exercises and techniques that can be used to increase calmness and decrease tension, anxiety, and stress (Norelli et al., 2021). Some calmness exercises can include
  • Intentional Deep Breathing - Controlling your breath and ensuring that your inhalations and exhalations take the same amount of time may help you regulate your physiological stress responses. In box-breathing, you visualize a box or a square with sides of equal length. Each side of the box represents one of the stages of breathing. Thus, in box-breathing, you breathe in through your nose to a count of 4, hold the air in your lungs for a count of 4, breath out for a count of 4, and then hold your breath for a count of 4. These steps are repeated for any period of time between 1 to 20 minutes and may help you increase your calmness.
  • Guided Imagery - Visualizing a calm, tranquil setting may help to promote calmness by providing a distraction from intrusive thoughts. In order to practice guided imagery, first make yourself comfortable, then visualize a tranquil setting, either one that you have personally experienced, or one that you imagine. Imagine the setting as experienced by all of your senses including sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel. For example, if you were to imagine a walk deep in a conifer forest you might imagine the sight of the sunlight filtering through the deep green trees, the sounds of the birds calling, the smell of the cedars and pines, the cold, crisp taste of the air, and the feel of the sunshine on your face. Sustain the visualization for as long as you need or are able. Concentrate on keeping your breathing slow and deep and on how being in that environment brings calmness. Links to two videos talking you through guided imagery are provided below.
  • Progressive Muscle Relaxation - By tensing and then relaxing the muscles of your body, focusing on the feeling of release that comes with un-tensing, you may be able to reduce anxiety and increase calmness. To practice progressive muscle relaxation, first, make yourself comfortable, then tense your feet and toe muscles. Curl your toes under and hold the tension for five seconds. Release the tension slowly over the course of about ten seconds. When you are releasing the tension, focus your attention on how it feels to release the tightness. Repeat this process for your legs, then hips, then stomach and chest, then shoulders and back, then face and neck, and finally in your arms and hands. Be careful not to tense your muscles to the point where you feel physical pain and make sure that you keep your breathing slow and deep throughout. A link to a video guiding you through progressive muscle relaxation is provided below.

How to Practice Calmness

Practicing calmness may mean many things. According to the video below, practicing calmness means not only lowering or removing stress but also actively seeking out peace of mind and calm. The speaker in the video below reminds us that we are equipped with both a sympathetic nervous system and a parasympathetic nervous system. The former is your system of fight or flight that activates and energizes you when you need to take immediate and potentially life-saving action. 

When this system becomes activated, your blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate all go up, getting you ready to take action. In contrast, the parasympathetic nervous system gets activated when you feel safe and comfortable. When this system becomes activated, your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate all go down while your digestion, immune system, and mental functioning all go up. The speaker argues that just as you can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system by confronting stressors, you can also stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system by choosing activities that stimulate this calm state.

Things that the speaker recommends to stimulate calmness can include
He spends most of the video, from about minute 6:30 describing and guiding the audience through breathing techniques intended to stimulate calmness and relaxation.

Video: How to Relax

Calmness Meditation

Meditation can help to increase calmness by increasing awareness and interconnectedness of the physical, emotional, and mental selves (Vijayaraghavan & Chandran, 2019). Regular meditators may experience greater calmness, joy, empathy, and acceptance. In particular, regular practice of breath awareness meditation may increase calmness.

In breath awareness meditation you first progressively bring your attention to and then relax each part of your body, from your toes to the top of your head. Then you bring your awareness to the sensations of your breath as it enters and exits your nostrils. Lastly, you direct your attention to your abdomen and chest as they rise and fall with your inhalations and exhalations. Practicing breath awareness meditation for twenty minutes twice a day may increase calmness and relaxation and decrease worry and stress. Links to videos guiding you through calmness meditations are provided below.

Calmness Essential Oils

Unlike the nerves responsible for detecting and transmitting sight and sound information to your brain, the millions of nerves that detect odor have a direct connection to parts of your brain that regulate emotion and memory (Walsh, 2020). This may explain why many people feel nostalgic when they smell fresh-cut grass, longing when they smell an ex-partner’s perfume, or comforted when they smell fresh-baked cookies. This deep connection between emotion and aroma means that smells can be used to increase calmness.

Essential oils are concentrated extracts of flowers, leaves, or other parts of plants that carry aromas. Essential oils are often used in aromatherapy. Two specific aromas that may increase calmness are lavender and orange. In an interesting study, both lavender essential oil and orange essential oil decreased anxiety and increased calmness in patients waiting in a dental office waiting room, a setting that is anxiety-provoking for many people (Lehrner et al., 2005).

Calming Gummies

Several supplements for calmness and relaxation exist, many of which have magnesium as their main effective ingredient. Magnesium is necessary for the healthy functioning of the body’s stress response systems and studies have found that people and animals with magnesium deficiencies may show high levels of anxiety or anxiety-like behaviors. Magnesium supplementation may decrease feelings of anxiety and may increase feelings of calmness in some people (Boyle et al., 2017). 

Calming Cannabis GummiesCannabis has a variety of effects that come about through the variety of different chemical compounds found in the plant. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is mostly responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, the euphoria or “high” that you may feel after cannabis use. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a very similar chemical compound with much less pronounced, less psychoactive effects. CBD may have some of the same anti-anxiety and calming effects that THC has, but without the psychoactive effects (Skelley et al., 2020). 

CBD is available in many forms, including gummies, and unlike THC is federally legal in the United States. However, please note that CBD may still be illegal in specific jurisdictions and that CBD use may lead to positive results on drug tests. Please consult with all of your local, regional, and federal laws and employment contracts before trying any CBD products, including gummies.

Calmness Videos

Calmness can be achieved through mindful breathing and meditation exercises. Video guidance may be helpful in performing these breathing exercises. Some videos that may help you reach calmness include:

Video: Daily Calm | 10 Minute Calming Mindfulness Meditation | Letting Go

Video: 10-Minute Calming Meditation For Stress

Video: 8 Minute Calming Mountain Meditation | Guided Imagery

Video: Guided Imagery For Relaxation & Calm

Video: Guided Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Video: 10-Minute Breath Awareness Meditation

Calming Games

Playing casual, easy video games may decrease physiological stress responses and increase feelings of calmness and relaxation (Russoniello et al., 2009). Some calming casual games that you may enjoy include

     

Quotes on Calmness

  • “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
  • “Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
  • “Calming allows us to rest, and resting is a precondition for healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down, and they rest completely for many days. They don't think about food or anything else. They just rest, and they get the healing they need. When we humans get sick, we just worry! We look for doctors and medicine, but we don't stop. Even when we go to the beach or the mountains for a vacation, we don't rest, and we come back more tired than before. We have to learn to rest. Lying down is not the only position for resting. During sitting or walking meditation, we can rest very well. Meditation does not have to be hard labor. Just allow your body and mind to rest like an animal in the forest. Don't struggle. There is no need to attain anything.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

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Final Thoughts on Calmness

Calmness is both the absence of feelings of worry, stress, anxiety, fear, and panic as well as the presence of peace, relaxation, patience, and ease. It is psychological as well as physical: when you feel calm not only do you feel emotionally and mentally relaxed, but your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate are also probably relatively low. Although life events may cause you to lose your calmness at times, regaining a sense of calmness is possible. As we have reviewed in this article, you may be able to achieve calmness by experiencing nature, listening to music, playing games, creating art, trying out some calming exercises, or trying out some calming essential oils or gummies.

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